Operation: FIM
by MoonriseUnicorn
Summary: Humans always thought My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic was just a cartoon. They were wrong ... Very wrong. Tragically, they'll never know that.


**Operation: FIM  
**

by MoonriseUnicorn

_**Five years ago …**_

"We've tried this experiment three times in the past. It's never worked before," Councilor Moonsong stated, looking across the table at the other members of Celestia and Luna's Royal Council, along with high-ranking officers of the Royal Guard.

"Twice, actually," Captain Swordstorm corrected. "Generation 3 was entirely their own creation. We had no influence on that at all."

"Twice, then," Moonsong acknowledged. "Still it didn't work either time. The first time we even portrayed members of their own species working with us."

"The first two times, our stylistic depictions of ourselves simply didn't appeal to older demographics," Councilor Storm Runner interjected, stretching her sky blue wings, slightly before folding them at her sides again. "We used a common art style for cartoons in what the humans called the 80's, but other than a small, but loyal following of older subjects, it primarily attracted a very young audience."

This time it was Celestia herself who responded.

"Be that as it may, Councilor Storm Runner, it's still a cartoon. What makes you think introducing a fourth round of experiments will be any different? After all, an audience made up only of children is not useful for our purposes."

"They have a new technology now, Your Majesty. One they didn't have available to them in the decade they call the 80's. They call it the Internet. And it will allow word of the new show to naturally spread much wider and faster than before. That will give us wide access to a new demographic, primarily made up of teenagers and young adults. It's a demographic we didn't have good access to when we ran the previous generations of experiments."

Celestia nodded once. "And what about the style issue? You stated that the stylistic depictions of ourselves probably didn't appeal to older demographics. Have you come up with a way to mitigate that?"

"If I may answer that question, sister," Luna interjected, stepping forward.

"Please, do" Celestia responded, turning towards her sister to listen as she yielded the speaking floor to her.

"Thank you," Luna nodded and continued. "We know a lot more about the aesthetic tastes of their teenagers and young adults than we did then. In particular, there is a stylistic depiction of their own species that they call _anime_ that seems to appeal greatly to them. We believe that we could adopt elements from that style and adapt it to our own cartoon depictions of ourselves. That would likely make the cartoon much more appealing to older demographics."

Celestia nodded and smiled slightly "Impressive research, sister. And have you found someone yet?"

Luna smiled. "I have. Her name is Faust. Lauren Faust. She has had a great deal of success in the past when it comes to producing cartoons that appeal to an audience far outside of their target demographic."

"Can you reach her?" Celestia asked.

"Yes. I can subconsciously influence her. As I can the executives at Hasbro to convince them to produce a new generation of the show."

"And you can do it discretely? Without them having any knowledge they are being influenced by anyone other than their own mind?"

"I can. They will be none the wiser."

Celestia nodded once, and then paced to the other side of the room, lost in her own thoughts for a few moments, then she turned back to her Council Members.

"And all of you are in agreement that you think it will work this time?"

The Council Members all nodded in unison.

"And you, sister?" Celestia asked, turning to Luna.

"Yes, sister. I think it will work this time," Luna responded with a nod.

Celestia paused for a minute or two, thinking to herself, before giving her own nod.

"Very well. Proceed with operation FIM, then. I want the format to follow the same format we talked about earlier. Present us in a positive light, and use the show to teach positive values to young children. But try to make the show appealing to an older demographic as well. We will discuss the results when they are ready.

_**Present day …**_

"Operation FIM itself was more successful than we ever could have hoped," Councilor Storm Runner began. But then, she lowered her ears and frowned. "Unfortunately, the actual results of the experiment were … not what we'd hoped."

"Go on," Celestia prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"The generation 4 experiments attracted a large number of teenage and adult followers. They created art, music, stories, and a lot of other fan related works. They set up art sites on the Internet dedicated to FIM, as well as fan fiction sites."

"That's good isn't it?" Celestia asked.

"Well … the problem was the types of things they created. For example, they used the characters in … inappropriate sexual situations."

"I'm not sure I see a problem with sexual uses of the characters, Councilor. In all fairness, the design you went with for the characters depicting us may have encouraged that use."

"Would that it were that innocent, Your Majesty … They portrayed us as rapists, molesters, and so on." She paused for a moment, as if searching for the right words to say something. Then, she continued. "They even … portrayed you as a pedophile who kept foals as slaves in some stories … Your Majesty"

Celestia almost recoiled and felt her stomach turn queasy even thinking about such a thing. The mere thought horrified her beyond words and went against everything she stood for. When she had recovered enough, she prompted for Storm Runner to continue.

"They portrayed the Element Bearers as rapists, murderers, serial killers, torcherers … Some people took to writing stories portraying us as genocidal, with plans to enslave their entire species, or change them all into ponies."

Celestia frowned deeply. "And what about the other fans who noticed those stories … Did they stand up for us and defend us?"

"Some of them did, Your Majesty … But most of them took to running with those same false depictions of us and using them to write stories where their species goes to war against us, based on the idea that we were evil and genocidal. They even created groups portraying themselves as superior to us and encouraging people to write stories where humans basically stomp all over us … Most of the ones who stood up for us only got mocked and ridiculed.

"I see … So most of the adult fans completely ignored the message of the show," Celestia said, frowning even deeper, she turned to glance at Luna, who was also frowning. There were no more words that needed to be said. It was obvious to all in the room what must be done. She returned her gaze to the gathered Council Members and Royal Guard Officers.

"Thank you all for your hard work on this project. You may all return to your normal duties."

The Council Members and Royal Guard officers bowed, then filed out of the room.

Later that night, Celestia rested in her private quarters. With a frown, she magically dipped her quill in an inkwell, then signed the document she had been working on. She read it over one more time before sending it off:

_**Internal Memo**_

_Project: **FIRST CONTACT**_

_Status: **CANCELED**_

_After an analysis of the data gathered from the human subjects who participated in the generation 4 experiments known as Operation FIM, we can only come to one conclusion: They are not ready for contact with another sapient species._

_Perhaps, sometime in the future, they will be. We will revisit this project again in one hundred years. By that time, baring some major medical breakthrough in their world, all from their current generations will be gone. Perhaps, a future generation of their species will be ready._

_Princess Celestia._


End file.
